Southeast Arizona

5-11 August 2007

Well, this trip started off with a bang in that I forgot the
stupid power cord to the stupid computer!! But it was a good test: could I
function without it?? I had enough data cards for the camera so I really didn’t
have to download anything till I got home, and most motels have a public
computer, so I could check e-mail (although the one in Tucson was terribly
slow).

Anyway, got over there fine, padding the list with a couple
of San Diego birds (Crow and Nuttall’s Woodpecker) and picking up Burrowing Owls
going through the Imperial Valley (ironically I didn’t pick up Cattle Egret
until the drive back). After checking in I headed to Sweetwater Wetlands
(thankfully the Prince Road exit was open; apparently the rest of them for the
next ten miles aren’t), and cruised to the end of the road (since it was
raining) enjoying my token Harris’ Hawk eating lunch. I sat in the car with
the window down for a long time while it rained in fits and spurts; meanwhile
another carload of birders wheeled in, doing the same thing! They finally got
out (it was still spitting, so I waited), and when I ran into them again later
they turned out to be a group from back east out here for the Southwest Wings
Bird Festival! The one guy got 70-something lifers, so that was great! They were
poring over a couple of shorebirds that we settled on Least: one was obvious,
but one almost looked like a Baird’s, as it had dark legs. But when they both
got together it was obvious that they were both Leasts (to the chagrin of the
one guy who had to scratch "Baird’s" off his list; so did I…).

Sweetwater Wetlands, sewer ponds turned wildlife sanctuary!

The overcast skies actually made it pleasant; there were tons
of what I was assuming were Mexican Ducks in the ponds, but they turned out to
be eclipse-plumaged "Northern" Mallards (part of the confusion was the
assumption that Northern Mallards weren't supposed to be there that time of
year) with lesser numbers of Cinnamon
Teal and a few Ruddies and Coots. A young Moorhen poked around, reminding me of
the young Purple Gallinule that hung around years ago (and I never found), and
picked up a few southeast Arizona specialty dickies, such as Gila Woodpecker,
Abert’s Towhee, and Curve-billed Thrasher. Yellow Warblers were very
cooperative, and had a Wood Duck and some stilts in the shallow holding ponds.

Came back, fed Jip, made my idiotic
discovery, and tried to answer a few e-mails on the lobby computer. My friend
Mary Post was recovering from her hip surgery, so her husband Ed wasn’t able to
join me the next day, but he said that Aztec Thrushes were apparently back, so I
planned to keep an eye out for them.